Mississippi: Press A Lever, Any Lever, And You'Ve Got A Milestone

(TIME, June 9) -- Some are calling the June 3 mayoral election in Jackson, Miss., a win-win situation. Either way, the last of the old civil rights cities will have as mayor its first black or its first woman. The wonder is that just a month ago, neither seemed possible. MAYOR KANE DITTO was the easy favorite to win a third term, but in a six-way race, the white two-term incumbent was trounced by HARVEY JOHNSON, a 50-year-old black urban planner. Johnson must now defeat G.O.P. primary winner CHARLOTTE REEVES. (A third and distant candidate is independent Ivory Phillips, a black woman.) The other wonder of this election is that though Jackson has a black majority, race has not been a dominant factor. Reeves, a white woman, handily defeated black civil rights activist James Meredith in the G.O.P. primary. Jackson voters seemed less concerned about color than about rising crime and other problems.

--By Sylvester Monroe

Verbatim

"If you have the good sense to...keep up with your roommates,
your own careers could take quite an interesting turn."

STROBE TALBOTT, Deputy Secretary of State and Bill Clinton's
Oxford housemate, in a commencement speech at Georgetown
University

"When I suggested it was time for a new 'family hour' on network
TV, I never thought Susan would take me so literally."

NEWT GINGRICH, on Congresswoman Susan Molinari's decision to
become a TV anchor

Iran: Speaking Softly And Hiding The Big Stick

Before the CLINTONS and BLAIRS relaxed over champagne and a convivial dinner in London last week, the Boomer Buddies huddled about Iran. Enraged by its terrorism, its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its attempts to spoil Middle East peace, Clinton long ago imposed a trade embargo on Iran and has regularly denounced the regime. But with the new reform-minded cleric President, MOHAMMED KHATAMI, has Clinton softened on the regime? Actually, he told Blair, he was "very skeptical" that Khatami's election would bring real change to Tehran's foreign policy, and Blair agreed. But Clinton wants to make Iran's leaders aware that he's open to dialogue as long as it includes the issues that concern the U.S., so at his London press conference Clinton pointedly praised Iranians as "a very great people" and wished that "estrangements can be bridged." "It was his idea," says a senior official. "He thought that was the proper way to use the election results for our own purposes, rather than a sterile recapitulation of our existing position."

--By J.F.O. McAllister

Secret Surfer

TIME checked out America's secret government agencies last week
on the Web. Our unclandestine review:

AGENCY

URL .COM/MENT

CIA

www.odci.gov/cia/ Enter--and browse--at your own risk. "The Government may monitor and audit the usage of this system," warns the splash page.

FBI

www.fbi.gov/ See if you're on the most-wanted list. Clean-cut and strict. Site cautions that its name, initials and seal are "restricted" and may be used "only with written permission."